We are recognizing the student leaders making a difference at CivMin this academic year,
and recently chatted with CivMin GSA President Praveen Siluvai Antony.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a Year 3 PhD student in the Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering at the University of Toronto, St. George Campus. I work with Prof. Daniel Posen and my research focus is to understand biofuels and their implications on public policies to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions. Prior to joining the University of Toronto, I was working as a research scientist at CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute in India.
How do you like Toronto so far?
I had only six months to explore before COVID hit, but I love the Toronto Islands. They’re one of my favourite spots to hang out in the summertime.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I play volleyball, cricket and I recently learned how to play table tennis. Also, during COVID, I learned some photography from Tony Northrup’s books and I can confidently say that I am an amateur photographer.
What are some of your goals for the year as GSA president?
As a team, we have three goals: One is trying to actively engage the graduate students so that we can get that lively student culture back in the department after the pandemic. Second, we want to organize more academic and industrial talks so that students are again back on track on departmental activities. And the third goal is to actively represent our graduate students in the department.
What is the GSA all about?
One of the key aspects of the GSA is professional development where we call industry experts to give talks on how their transition from student to employee went and what kind of skills they developed. The second is helping students to socialize a bit and build their network and maintain mental health. And third, we represent student interest in various platforms including department committees, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and The Graduate Engineering Council of Students (GeCOS). We have a great GSA team this year and we hope to achieve all our goals.
What are you most excited about for this year coming up?
We just started to bring back some of our in-person events. In the last couple of weeks, we had a coffee social and a pub night. I am happy to share that we had about 40 students participate and it was great to see all students in person. I’m also looking forward to our Industry Night in February where we connect grad students with as many employers as possible and help guide them in their transition from student to employee in various workplaces.
How can people get involved in the CivMin GSA?
Please follow our social media and subscribe to our newsletter. Send us an email and we can get in touch with you and we can take it from there.
By David Goldberg
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Visit the CivMin GSA website for more info and follow them on all social media channels:
Website: civmingsa.wordpress.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/civmingsa
Instagram: @civmingsa
Email: gsa.civmin@utoronto.ca